Anthony Palmieri

Low cost digital camera, and high quality printing now coupled
with some imagination can open the door for you to create unique
pictures ranging from the family pets, to autos right to custom
cards and wall posters that you have created. Custom printing
was expensive, and mostly restricted to advertising companies.
However now, you can go to your local office store and have them
print out a high quality laser print for a few dollars. So now
that you have all this capability available, what can you do
with it? Well, how about start to create custom pictures for
yourself. Software packages like Adobe Photoshop have many
capabilities that allow you to customize your pictures, but the
question often asked is well what should I do. The intent of
this article is to give you many ideas to think about and
experiment with to see what fits your personality and likes. We
will focus on automobiles, although these ideas can be applied
to family portraits, pictures of your loving pets, and even
landscapes.



When you are taking a picture of a car, do not just think about
what you see in the viewfinder, but think about the final
composition. A few questions to consider are:



1. Will the car be a stand alone in the picture?



2. Will there be multiple images of the car merged together?



3. Will there be different elements of the car used?



4. Can the car be used as both a background element as well as a
foreground element?



5. What unique features stand out?



.... and the list goes on.



Taking a digital picture does not cost you anything until you
print it out, so I recommend that you take many pictures at
different angles, and of all elements. Looking through the
viewfinder gives you only one perspective of the final picture,
but, using your mind will open the door to an unlimited world.



Things to consider when looking and photographing a car: 1. Is
there a large surface such as a sloping trunk with a minimal
amount of details? If so, this may make a great background where
you could overlay a side view of the car on the trunk. To add to
the personalized component, keep the license place in the
picture so it ties the picture to the owner.



2. Are there any distinctive features such as a massive open
grill as on many pre 1965 cars? This may also make a great
background to overlay a side view of the car in the grill.
Keeping any logos or license plate adds to the personalized
impact.



3. Many of the older cars have trim pieces that are art in
themselves. Take for example a 1958 Bel Air. The front fenders
and sides have bullet like trim that would make a great border.



4. Do not just focus on the exterior of the car, think about the
interior. How about those detailed and distinctive dash boards
and large buss like steering wheels. These also make a great
backgrounds. Imagine the car centered in the steering wheel
where you get a glimpse of the gages. Or for that fantasy effect
for a performance car, edit the speedometer to show a high
speed, and slightly blur the car to represent the speed.



This is a brief list of things to consider, and after a while
when you look at something your mind will run with the endless
possibilities. Your biggest challenge will be to weed through
those ideas and pick the best ones.



In part 2 of this series we will talk about taking these ideas
and enhancing them even more through things such as making
elements stand out by fading, blurring and defocusing portions
of the composition.



For some examples of what is described here, refer to
www.PalmieriConcepts.com in the "Examples" section. When you
look at these examples, think how you can apply these to your
own work.



About the author:


Anthony Palmieri founded Palmieri Concepts,
www.PalmieriConcepts.com after 20 years of creating custom art
work for his own pleasure and enjoyment. This business grew out
of a love for motor vehicles and was started to share with
others what started out as a hobby. After taking how his own
pride and joys and combining them with creativity, it became
obvious that many others showcase trophies as he has done.





View all John Hocking's articles

---

About the Author:

More Automobiles articles